Problem is, I don’t want to leave this ranch. Maybe it’s talking to Jo that’s poked holes in all my internal arguments about leaving, or maybe it’s Junie’s giant hug. Either way, I feel my resolve slip away. I should go, but I don’t want to. Regardless of whether Cal regrets kissing me, I don’t regret it. He’s the one who said he was going to kiss me. We both wanted it.
I peel Junie’s arms from around my waist and crouch to her eye level. “What are you doing up so early?”
“Time for pancakes.” She squirms out of my hold and wraps her arms around me again.
Her hair is mussed from sleep, and I resist the urge to smooth it. Idefinitelywon’t offer to fix it into pigtails that aren’t cockeyed. I won’t play Mum.
But I will keep my promise.
“Okay, love. You want to help?” Her wide, innocent expression is all Cal, and with her arms clamped around my neck, she has me in a chokehold. Literally and metaphorically.
Neither one’s good.
A door opens at the end of the hall, and Cal steps out. His eyes meet mine, pausing long enough to take my breath before he shoots me a shy grin.
“Get dressed for school, June Bug,” he says.
But his eyes don’t leave mine as he buttons his shirt as casually as if a peek at his stomach and the muscles stacked on muscles there isn’t enough to bring back more than the memoryof kissing him last night. My imagination trailblazes to where else we could have ended up.
The chokehold these Holloways have on me just keeps getting tighter.
“No. I stay with Frankie,” Junie declares before facing me again. “Right?”
Cal’s brow furrows in that way he has when he’s sorting through a problem. “Miss Merry is waiting for you. You can see Frankie later.”
“No school today,” she says, matter-of-factly.
I’m stuck on what Cal’s said about her seeing me later. That sounds like he’s planning for me to stay.
I scoop up Junie and carry her into the kitchen, making myself complicit in her rebellion. I set her in her seat at the counter. It’s not her magic chair, but she doesn’t fight me.
“You haven’t got time to take her all the way into town today,” Jo calls when she sees Cal down the hall. “And no one else does either. Juniper can stay with me today.”
“You don’t need to yell, Ma,” Cal says as he walks into the kitchen, shirt not only buttoned but tucked in tight. No more ab sighting for me this morning.
He glances between Jo and Junie and sighs with resignation, then sends me a half smile. “You sleep okay?”
“Yeah. Good.” I say, because what else can I say? “Good.”
I wonder if he tossed and turned all night like I did, back and forth between wishing we’d never kissed and wishing we hadn’t stopped.
“Good.” He nods toward Junie. “As long as she’s managed, I’ve got a couple things to do before checking the cows. You need anything?” he adds as an afterthought.
“A ride into town later?”
His eyes narrow. “You want to go home?”
He doesn’t sound happy about that idea. Which, I hate toadmit, makes me happy and seals the deal. I’ll spend a few days with the Holloways while I sort things out.
“I’d like to pick up a few things, including my car so I don’t have to bug all of you for rides,” I tell him, and the line between his brow smooths but doesn’t disappear.
“You sure it’s safe? You don’t want to wait another day or two? Aunt Flo could bring your car out.” His voice is a soft growl, like a dog warning its owner something might be dangerous.
I shrug. “I’m not worried about any real danger. My place isn’t easy to find, but I can’t guarantee no gossip site photogs will be there. I’ll take my chances though to have a few of my own things.”
I need my own clothes and toiletries as much for the familiarity as for the grounding they’ll provide. I can’t go back to being Fran McVey, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be Frankie Forsythe again. It’d be too easy to be absorbed by the Holloways while I’m standing at this crossroad, trying to figure out who I am and who I want to be.
“Yeah. Of course. We can head in after lunch.” He glances at Jo who’s at the stove, then lowers his voice. “We should talk.”
